Elon Musk has just taken over Twitter. What more is 2022 going to do to the beleaguered left? While your guess is good as mine, there is not an iota of doubt that 2022, so far, has truly been a year of pleasant surprises like no other. And in India, as we watch many tall citadels carefully built over years, on the foundations of falsehoods and lies, come crashing before our very eyes, we sense this truth more closely than anywhere else.
Be it intellectual institutions, social media or even that otherwise incorrigible hotbed of mediocrity called Bollywood, it has been so hearty to see old strangleholds loosening and newer (dare I say, saner) discourses and players appearing. Most importantly, in 2022, the voice of the common citizen does seem to be ringing aloud. And what a glorious melody is it turning out to be.
That the Overton window was shifting was in no doubt at all. In Indian politics, especially, the change was marked back in 2014. The fear that this was an aberration was put to rest in 2019 (the oscillating fortunes of various political parties in state elections notwithstanding). In fact, I have always felt that Narendra Modi’s consecutive successes in the Lok Sabha elections were fueled by Hindu resurgence and not vice versa. But since this has been discussed ad nauseam, let’s not dwell on it further. And instead, look at the upheavals we are witnessing in 2022 in otherwise unexpected spheres on the ground. Especially away from the din of social media.
The shift begins
When celebrities first appeared on our TV screens in their non-filmy avatars, it was many moons ago. We were thrilled. Whether they lip-synced in unison to ‘mile sur mera tumhara’ and emphasized national unity, or highlighted the importance of polio vaccines, we idolized them and appreciated their noble gesture. In the decades that followed, as the economy opened, the endorsement extended to (sometimes dubious) brands and products, but we were happy to tolerate that too. But things started taking an ugly turn when in recent years some of them decided to model themselves after prophets and used advertisements as their medium of discourse on social reform. It did not slip anyone’s notice that invariably it was the Hindu who was their only target always. To burst crackers or not, to retain our wedding customs or not, was Karwa Chauth regressive or not, how Bindis as a symbol of identity were totally uncool and on a thousand other topics, Hindus were infantilized and lectured to.
Far from debating and discussing misgivings, if any, from learned acharyas or scholars the Hindu was expected to get her instruction from two-bit celebrities and ad agencies. As expected, the sanctimonious lectures got so out of hand, that the inevitable vocal and visible public disapproval followed. The latest one to join the ranks is repeat offender Aamir Khan whose banking ad (of all things!) had to be taken off air after public backlash. Finally, now that the so-called activists are doing a double take and slowing down on their activism, 2022 was the year when Diwali wishes from usual suspects looked like Diwali wishes and not some faux PETA ad.
Intellectual elitism had been another dearly held domain. Like many, I too in the past had been guilty of devouring the writings of the likes of Pankaj Mishra and Arundhati Roy and taking their message to heart. In our defence, decades ago, I should say that contrarian opinions were so hard to find in the mainstream that many of us grew up as “secular, liberals” our minds poisoned by the trash spewed by these Naxals. However, 2022 (2021 itself, perhaps, to a great extent) is seeing a shift.
Alternative narratives (as found in J Sai Deepak’s or Vikram Sampath’s books) are not only generating curiosity but also making inroads into the mainstream. Be it primetime coverage in news channels or reviews in (otherwise secular) portals like LinkedIn, these dharmic voices are gaining not only readership but also widespread acceptance. How many times in the past have we found books such as these consistently in the list of bestsellers? Finally, in 2022, we are seeing that owning up to one’s Hindu identity is no longer taboo. I hope the day is not far off when we don’t have to handle more bitter truths of our traumatic past with kid gloves.
While these changes had been building up over time, being nurtured and grown over the foundation laid by Dharmic intellectuals of the past, something in 2022 came totally out of the left field that surprised the left and non-left alike. While the outright rejection of mainstream anti-Hindu Bollywood and welcoming of regional movies had been brewing for some time now, what is truly jaw-dropping has been the pan- Indian audience’s unapologetic thumbs-up to low-budgeted and otherwise nondescript movies that unabashedly asserted their Hindu identity.
As if the tremors unleashed on Bollywood by Kashmir Files earlier this year was not enough, the tectonic shift called Kantara chose to occur later in the year. And what a magnificent event it has been! A whole month later, the effect that movie has had on viewers is yet to wane. The left ecosystem as usual tried to stifle the successes of both movies (by calling the Kashmir Files a fabricated story and in the case of the latter by trying to dissociate the culture depicted from Hinduism) but they failed spectacularly in both cases even as makers stood their ground, true to their vision and ideology.
At the risk of sounding over dramatic, I am tempted to paint this as a major civilizational change for us. Exactly two years ago, I lamented in my review (of Netflix’s A Suitable Boy) here that “As long as distortions and stereotypes are packaged glossily and sold well, they would remain entrenched as the unquestioned truth in the minds of large swathes of the viewing audiences. It is time for professional Hindu voices to learn to tell and sell our versions of our stories.” Now, less than 2 years later, in a happy turn of events, we have already had some great stories told on screen and received with resounding applause. This will only open the floodgates for more and more honest storytellers to follow, I hope.
In conclusion
As dharmic political superstars (who do not see the need for political correctness at the cost of Hindu identity) rise in all parts of the country, the Hindu society also seems to be finding its voice back. While the Nupur Sharma episode and Kanhaiya Lal incidents show that the Indian state still has a long way to go before dharma becomes a state policy in this land, this is still a hopeful start for us.
Is the much-awaited Dharmic ecosystem taking shape? I, for one, would certainly like to believe so. As the Samskrta saying goes,
Great tasks can be accomplished by judicious deployment of small things just as a rope woven together by using several strands of grass is able to hold in check the mighty intoxicated elephant
There is much ground to be covered, no doubt. Academics, judiciary, and a whole spectrum of territory remain out of reach yet, but if we as Hindus have finally started weaving together the various dharmic strands into a rope to tame the radical all-powerful adharmic forces at play, then more power to us, I say!
